Jürgen Klopp is confident his “warriors” Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané will be able to process their delight and dejection from the Africa Cup of Nations final and want to get straight back into the battle for the Premier League title.
Liverpool’s two top scorers of the Klopp era face off on Sunday when Salah captains Egypt against Mané’s Senegal in Yaoundé before they team up again against Leicester on Thursday. The Liverpool manager is convinced that, rather than asking for a break, each will be eager to return to action and, while it is likely one will come back to Merseyside jubilant and the other disappointed, he insisted it is not a test of his man-management skills.
“No one asks how they will deal with it,” he said. “I don’t think that will be a problem. Both play a successful tournament. I can deal with it; no problem. I will help them with all I have. When they come back, we will talk and see if they need anything. They are our boys: we will do everything to help them in all the situations.”
The two forwards willingly shoulder a huge workload for Klopp. Salah made the joint most appearances last season and, even though he has been in Africa for a month, only the goalkeeper Alisson has started more games for Liverpool this campaign than their top scorer.
While Klopp expects the beaten finalist back at Anfield sooner, with the winner likely to take the trophy back to his homeland, and will consult both before plunging them back into action, he is likely to have them available on Thursday to bolster an attack that could also include his January signing, Luis Díaz.
“These two boys are real warriors,” he said. “They are constantly ready. They are both not worried about holidays or days off. I never heard them ask about it, so especially with these two, it is really simple. I know they want to play immediately but together with them we have to find out how much sense it makes. You can imagine both want to play against Leicester, both want to be involved, score goals and win football games for Liverpool.”
While Mané and Salah are on opposite sides at the Africa Cup of Nations, Klopp does not believe they have a rivalry and he argued the only intra-squad contest is between his full-backs, Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, to create the most goals.
The right-back has the most assists in the Premier League, but only one more than Salah, who has a six-goal lead in his bid to win a third Golden Boot. The second, in 2019, was shared with Mané and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and, while the Senegalese tends to be outscored by the Egyptian, he has one more goal in the Africa Cup of Nations, Mané having scored three to Salah’s two.
“Three years ago they were together and got the golden boot,” Klopp said. “It was a really nice moment. Apart from that, do they have a competition? I know Robbo and Trent have a competition for assists.”
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Salah was seen rousing Egypt with an on-pitch speech before extra time in Thursday’s semi-final against Cameroon, taking more responsibility after the manager, Carlos Queiroz, had been sent to the stands. Klopp was pleased, though not surprised, to see Salah and Mané take on the kind of motivational duties that James Milner, Jordan Henderson and Robertson adopt in the Anfield dressing room.
“I have my meetings but in the pep talk before the game Milly and Hendo and Robbo are more vocal,” he said. “As a not native speaker, I am not very vocal and it doesn’t make sense when in these moments each word has to hit the nail. Now Mo and Sadio are there in their home language, the most important players, the best players in their countries, they take the role. I was never in doubt that they have leadership skills. They wear the hat and have been pretty impressive.”